What eTIMS Lite is for
eTIMS Lite is aimed at taxpayers with low transaction volumes, especially those who are not VAT registered. It comes in a web version and a USSD version, so you can issue a compliant invoice from a basic phone by dialing a short code, or from a browser.
The invoices it produces are genuine eTIMS invoices with control numbers, which is what your business clients need in order to claim their costs. The trade-off is that it is built for occasional, manual invoicing, not for ringing up dozens of sales an hour.
Two versions exist for a reason. The USSD route works on any basic phone by dialing a short code, which suits a trader upcountry with no smartphone. The web version, reached through a browser, gives you a fuller screen for entering details. Both produce the same valid invoice, so you pick whichever matches the device in your hand.
How to use eTIMS Lite
The flow is intentionally simple so a sole proprietor can do it without any software.
- 1
Confirm your KRA PIN
You need an active KRA PIN with iTax access, since eTIMS Lite is tied to your taxpayer profile.
- 2
Onboard for eTIMS Lite
Register through the eTIMS onboarding for the Lite option, selecting the web or USSD route that suits you.
- 3
Enter the sale details
For each invoice, key in the buyer details, the item or service, and the amount. There is no VAT line if you are not VAT registered.
- 4
Generate the compliant invoice
The system signs it and returns a control number, turning your entry into a valid tax invoice.
- 5
Share it with the buyer
Send the invoice to your client so they have the compliant document for their records and deductions.
Where eTIMS Lite users go wrong
Using it for high-volume retail
Keying in every sale by hand does not scale. A shop doing hundreds of transactions a day will fall behind and make errors. That is a job for an integrated POS.
Forgetting to issue at the time of sale
Batching invoices days later leads to missed sales and mismatched records. Issue the invoice when the sale happens.
Mixing personal and business numbers
Use the correct KRA PIN and consistent buyer details, or your invoices and returns will not reconcile cleanly.
Outgrowing it without noticing
eTIMS Lite quietly becomes a bottleneck as you grow. If you find yourself keying invoices late into the evening, the free tool is now costing you time worth more than a POS subscription.
A consultant who fits eTIMS Lite perfectly
A part-time trainer issues maybe eight invoices a month, each between KES 15,000 and KES 60,000, to corporate clients. She is not VAT registered. eTIMS Lite is ideal: she dials in or logs on, enters the client and amount, gets a control number, and sends the compliant invoice. No software cost, no hardware.
Contrast that with a busy cafe doing 300 sales a day. eTIMS Lite would be a nightmare there, because someone would have to type each sale into the system. The cafe needs a POS that issues the compliant invoice automatically as part of taking payment.
The dividing line is roughly where invoicing stops being occasional and becomes a daily rhythm. The trainer at eight invoices a month will probably never outgrow the free tool. The moment a counter, a delivery round or a second staff member enters the picture, manual entry becomes the slowest part of the day.
Trading without eTIMS-compliant tax invoices risks KRA penalties, blocked VAT input claims for your customers, and receipts a business buyer cannot expense.
Veira signs every sale to KRA eTIMS automatically, so each receipt is compliant the moment it prints, with no separate device to reconcile.
When to graduate from eTIMS Lite to Veira
eTIMS Lite is a good starting point for genuinely low volumes. The moment invoicing starts eating your time, or you are running a counter, a POS pays for itself by issuing compliant invoices automatically and keeping your stock, sales and tax records in one place.
Veira does that on the phone you already own plus a free handheld terminal, works offline, and scales from a single trader to a multi-branch business without changing how you work.
Moving up is not a fresh start. The compliant invoices you issued on eTIMS Lite and the ones a POS issues are the same kind of document to KRA, so you carry your compliance forward rather than rebuilding it. You change how fast invoices are produced, not whether they count.
Frequently asked questions
Is eTIMS Lite really free?
Who should use eTIMS Lite?
Can VAT-registered businesses use eTIMS Lite?
Does eTIMS Lite work on a basic phone?
Are eTIMS Lite invoices fully valid?
When should I move off eTIMS Lite?
Is there a transaction limit on eTIMS Lite?
Can I issue a VAT invoice on eTIMS Lite?
eTIMS Lite is a genuinely useful free tool for small and non-VAT taxpayers who only need to bill clients now and then. If that is you, use it. If you are running a counter or your invoice volume is climbing, check the readiness checker and consider a POS that issues every compliant invoice for you automatically.